Anti-Trump Group Unleashes Plan to Pick VP at Convention

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Sharonville Convention Center on July 6, 2016, in Cincinnati.

Anti-Trump forces have a back-up plan in case their efforts to deny Donald Trump the Republican nomination fail: Give delegates the power to choose his running mate, NBC News reported.

The proposal, backed by the group "Free the Delegates," would change “rule 40” — a bylaw guiding how delegates choose the president and vice president’s nominations, giving delegates a say in Trump’s running mate.

Expected to be debated in rules committee meetings in Cleveland this week before the Republican National Convention, the proposal is a safety valve in case Trump nominates a Democrat or moderate Republican.

And there is a precedent: When Sen. John McCain considered then Sen. Joe Lieberman in 2008, many viewed Lieberman’s abortion record unacceptable that they threatened to vote him down in a floor fight if nominated.